Russia must adopt the UN declaration on indigenous peoples: ICC

Representatives from Inuit Circumpolar Council, including its chair Aqqaluk Lynge and Kirt Egesiak, vice-president for Canada, are in New York at the United Nations for the 10th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous peoples. On May 18, ICC presented its May 11 “A Circumpolar Inuit Declaration On Resource Development Principles In Inuit Nunaat” in a forum side event. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ICC)

This week and next, 500 representatives from the 370-million indigenous peoples who live around the world are meeting in New York at the United Nations for the 10th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous peoples.

The forum, which meets for 10 days each year, is a high-level advisory body that deals with indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health and human rights.

There, on May 17, the Inuit Circumpolar Council chair Aqqaluk Lynge, ICC Canada-vice president Kirt Ejesiak and ICC Chukotka vice-president Tatiana Achirgina hosted a side event to present the “A Circumpolar Inuit Declaration On Resource Development Principles In Inuit Nunaat.”

They also called for Russia to approve the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“The vast majority of countries now support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with the regrettable exception of Russia,” Lynge said in a May 19 news release from the ICC.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2007, calls for governments and corporations to obtain the “free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous communities” for use of their lands and resources.

The declaration also says indigenous people must be equal partners in all negotiations on self-determination, lands and resources, culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues.

In her statement at the ICC side event, Achirgina called on Russia “to urgently endorse the UN Declaration on rights of indigenous people.”

Canada was one of four nations that originally voted against the declaration. Canada finally endorsed the declaration last November, and a month later, in December, President Barack Obama declared that the U.S. would also to sign the declaration.

“The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples finally has the consensus it deserves. Now we need to make the Declaration’s principles a reality. To those who do not grasp the Declaration’s importance, I say: protecting and promoting the rights of indigenous peoples benefits us all,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his remarks to the forum’s May 16 opening session.

Ancient indigenous traditions can help overcome modern problems, Ban Ki-Moon said.

“The goal is not to appropriate your knowledge — to extract it or exploit it — but to respect indigenous peoples and help preserve their traditions. There is an indigenous saying that, ‘When an elder dies, it is like a light burning out.’ This is a beautiful expression of respect for the wisdom of age. But it could also be a warning. We could just as easily say that, ‘When an indigenous custom dies, it is like a light burning out.’ If that is true, our world is growing darker. Today, one indigenous language dies every two weeks. Indigenous cultures are threatened with extinction. Millions of indigenous peoples continue to lose their lands, their rights, and their resources. They make up one third of the world’s 1 billion rural poor. And they are among the most vulnerable and marginalized of any group.”

The 10th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous peoples continues until May 27.

“As the first week comes to a close it is clear that Inuit from Canada must be present to ensure our issues are addressed at the International level,” Egesiak said in the May 19 news release.